Goldsmiths Craft and Design Council Awards

 
I am thrilled to have won two awards at the Goldsmiths Craft and Design Council awards held on 4 March at London's Goldsmiths Hall. I was awarded silver in Smallworkers Design and bronze in Smallworkers & Modelmakers for my work of six scored silver miniature vessels. These awards are hailed as the Oscar’s of the jewellery and silversmithing world and they are held annually to ‘promote the pursuit of excellence in craftsmanship and design amongst all those in the United Kingdom who work within silversmithing, goldsmithing, jewellery and allied crafts’.

Me, with fellow winners Janet Richardson and Erica Sharp (current resident at South Hill Park). 

my award winning miniature scored vessels 

(photo by Richard Valencia)

and here they are in the case at Goldsmiths' Hall

(photo by Julia Skupny)

yawn

oh dear I'm a bit sleepy today. I went to see a friend in London and had a lovely time. We went to a restaurant which I'd been avoiding because I don't like the name (long story) but she suggested it, so off we went. To my surprise what I had was very tasty indeed. I had farfalle pasta with roasted pine nuts, cherry tomatoes, pesto and grilled artichoke hearts. It was very tasty indeed...especially with pasta dishes I find that often they sound good on the menu but are bland and disappointing, but this one was very good. My friend had a calzone with aubergine and bunch of other veggies and she really liked it too. I tried a piece and it was good! Anyway....that wasn't really my point. My point was that we then went to a pub and were chatting away and eventually decided to go and when I got to Paddington I'd missed all the sensible trains before the last fast one. So I phoned my other half because I knew he was aiming to get that last train, because he was in London with friends to go to a gig. So eventually the boys showed up and we all got the train together, which was much preferable to travelling alone and it was fun. Then we got to Reading and the boy decided he needed some fresh air so we walked home which meant that we probably got to bed close to 1am. So, a bit sleepy today..... long excuse, huh?

sleepy...

Well, after a late night of trying to stay awake long enough to get some idea of the election (I didn't stay up that long!), I am feeling rather sleepy.

Randomly, in Camden we also went to a small shop called Robot and it had lots of fun stuff. Bits of 1980s and random children's shows' things like My Little Ponies and Rainbow Brite and things like that. Fun t-shirts and cute plastic wallets and just quite unique fun things. Their website is http://pinkkat.co.uk/ - you can see some of their things on the site, but the photos aren't great. If you get the chance, definitely a shop to go have a nose around in Camden!

Camden

We went to Camden Market yesterday in London for the first time in ages. It was brilliant - so many interesting things and crafts and little shops! It had changed too, there was a whole section which is now covered over which I think was open before. They've made this incredible entrance with huge bronze horses and the whole ceiling is covered with material that looks like Chesterfield couches. It's very impressive! And new cafes and new stores and it was all quite exciting. Here's a photo of me (in the red coat) in front of the entrance bit with the horses:
In other news, I got a lovely award from Something Just to Start: